Speaker Heastie Statement on the Equality Amendment

The Supreme Court has failed women and it has failed to protect the rights of Americans. But New York will not. Passing the Equality Amendment is the first step to ensuring that protections for women’s reproductive health care and equal rights for all New Yorkers are not just protected under the law, but are enshrined in our state constitution.

For years, here in the Assembly Majority when we would pass the Reproductive Health Act, we were told it was unnecessary and that Roe was settled law. We did not listen, and I’m glad we didn’t. We passed the RHA into law in 2019, guaranteeing women in New York the right to make choices over their reproductive health care. And this year, we passed legislation to protect the medical providers who offer those critical services.

Year after year we have fought to make our state a better place for all New Yorkers, and to protect the rights of the marginalized and the most vulnerable. We will not stop. We will continue fighting to move New York forward, not backward.